February 2026

Employees Employees of the Staff Development Office at the Cracow University of Technology took part in the conference inaugurating the project „Małopolska: Fostering Collaboration for Research Success – Project Launch”, in which the Cracow University of Technology is one of the partners. The project aims to strengthen collaboration between the academic community, research support institutions, and international partners, as well as to increase the attractiveness of the Małopolska region as a place conducive to the development of academic careers.

The event program included opening remarks, a presentation of the project’s assumptions and objectives, and an inspiring panel discussion with international researchers and experts. Among the speakers was Prof. Konstantinos Raftopoulos from the Cracow University of Technology, who shared his experiences related to building an academic career at CUT. The panel participants emphasized the advantages of Kraków as an academic city and an innovative scientific hub, as well as a safe and welcoming place to live for researchers’ families.

During the discussion, attention was also drawn to the challenges faced by researchers who take up research work outside their home countries, such as language barriers, excessive bureaucracy, and insufficiently developed mentoring systems. In this context, the importance of comprehensive institutional support for mobile researchers was emphasized.

The participation of the Staff Development Office employees is part of the Cracow University of Technology’s activities aimed at developing staff competencies and implementing European standards in the area of planning and development of academic career paths, including the assumptions of the HR Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R). In the section devoted to the HR Strategy for Integration, particular attention was paid to the role of university administration in supporting researcher mobility—by reducing administrative barriers, streamlining processes, and creating conditions conducive to flexibly combining professional duties with academic development. The importance of the award/label was also emphasized HR Excellence in Research as the result of coherent and complementary actions of the university in the areas of HR, internationalization, mobility, and researchers’ career development.

The conference was also an opportunity to exchange experiences and establish contacts important for the further involvement of the Cracow University of Technology in the implementation of the project.

The project is implemented as part of the program Sieć NAWA–EURAXESS by a consortium led by the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, in cooperation with the Jagiellonian University, the Cracow University of Technology, the University of Agriculture in Kraków, and the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The project is financed with funds from the European Union under the program European Funds for Social Development 2021–2027